In Episode 8 of Season 9 Neil, Xan and Matt extract themselves for 'cross duties to chat through the Kerste Periode with some stunning racing. After giving birthday greetings to Xan and Neil, they look back on the A to Z of Antwerp to Zolder, the sand of Koksijde and Hofstade and the missing mud from Gavere.

With new stars starting to shine for mid season from Del Grosso and Fouquenet we have a new crop of riders ripening nicely. Despite this we still have the literal case of Brand and Vanderpoel winning everything that they enter... can they keep it up?

Looking forwards there is a ton of racing to keep up with, from Dendermonde to Baal and the classic of Zonhoven just a few days away.

They also give some preview and insight into the final round of the National Trophy 25-26 which is due to come from Irvine.

Support the show

--
To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps!

You can watch us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@TheCrosscastCyclocross

Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield @crosscastneil is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne @mattfixerpayne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees @xancrees races for OGT USE.

In Episode 7 of Season 9 Neil, Xan and Matt jump into a mega few weeks of cyclocross goodness. Neil reports back on Hunsworth National Trophy with its December mud, cracking course, and great atmosphere. They mention the parking nightmare that unfolded - oof. Neil also reports back on his local racing at a very old classic venue, and compares notes with Xan who was bringing in a top 6 at Kortrijk and getting a solid amount of TV-time for her stripy jersey and shiny new Van Rysel bikes.

They review Namur with what was some frankly goose bumpy racing that has to go down as one of the most impressive men's and women's races for some time. With the return of Neff being a treat, Pieterse a treat², and Van der Poel a treat³ we had skills, personality, battles, and power galore. Xan gives the insight into how it was on the ground, especially those bits where Nys and Van der Poel were... on the ground.

They give a bit of a PSA regarding bar width ready for rule changes and then preview the upcoming bunch of races coming from Antwerp, Koksijde, Gavere, Zolder. SO MUCH to look forward to.

Neil wonders... will the Koksijde results compare to 2015 when it was: (daddy) Nys, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Van der Haar, Sweeck, Meeusen, Aerts.

Support the show

--
To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps!

You can watch us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@TheCrosscastCyclocross

Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield @crosscastneil is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne @mattfixerpayne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees @xancrees races for OGT USE.

It is Crosscast Episode 100. Thanks to all of you who have been here since the start, and we've loved collecting listeners over the years.

In Episode 6 of Season 9, Neil, Xan, and Matt cast their minds back to a frozen Tabor which turned out to be a classic. Great racing, incident-packed action and skills and power both on display. Xan talks us through her race with her cracking start meaning that missed the early melee while the race settled down. The men's race had so many great performances, marking ingredients that could give us a super season.

They also think back to Flamanville which was a total contrast to Tabor, and tricky in lots of different ways. They talk through how both Nys and Mason have matured markedly for this year.

In the Laatste Ronde, they preview Round 5 of the National Trophy that will come from Tong / Bradford / Hunsworth (choose your title) as well as Cabras / Sardinia / Terralba (choose your title) World Cup with its microscopic start list, and Namur that will be awesome because it always is.

Neil bumbles through an attempt to explain why he really likes Kortrijk, and Xan nails it in one go!

Support the show

--
To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps!

You can watch us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@TheCrosscastCyclocross

Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield @crosscastneil is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne @mattfixerpayne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees @xancrees races for OGT USE.